What's the Holt Up?

A blurb in the STrib blog yesterday, that has since been removed, mentioned the Vikings are not rumored to be interested in veteran WR Torry Holt. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but the team has not publically mentioned him. The former All-Pro WR was cut early yesterday by Rams, the team he has spent his whole career with since being drafted in the first round of the 1999 draft. The decision to release Holt was largely because the team is looking to go young and owed Holt a roster bonus of $1.25 million next week.

If the Vikings made such a strong push for WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, you'd think they would be interested in the 32 year Holt as well. He is just a year older than Housh and has a stronger track record, despite having his lowest statistical output since his rookie year. Up until last year, Holt had amassed 8 consecutive 80+ catches 1100+ receiving yard seasons. The drop-off was largely due to the fact that they switched head coaches mid-season and had a shaky QB situation the whole year.

Holt still has great hands and would be a perfect compliment to the speedster Bernard Berrian and would give the Vikings another viable and consistent threat at WR. The addition of Holt would open things up for the Vikings passing game and make defenses think twice about stacking the line to stop Adrian Peterson. He would also likely come cheaper than T.J. Houshmandzadeh at this point in his career and has played his whole career in a dome.

The only team that has expressed interest thus far is San Francisco. Don't be surprised if he ends up in Arizona if Anquan Boldin is dealt. Other potential landing spots are the Jets, Dolphins, Bucs, Colts, Chiefs, or Bengals.